Frances Levine

2 months ago | newmexicomagazine.org | Frances Levine |Kate Nelson

BY THE TIME SUSAN WALLACE’S WAGON TRAIN CRESTED RATÓN PASS IN 1878, the Santa Fe Trail had accomplished its goal of knitting the Wild West into the American story. The trail’s 1821–1880 heyday as a trade route filled with mules, oxen, and covered wagons was steaming into a new era. But one thing would remain the same: The stories of women travelers like Wallace were relegated to hard-to-find letters and diaries, largely lost to history.